Morris tribune., 1887-01-05
MASQUERADING.

ueCI6IS l ~sN aSllalneu Oh my
sex!' exclaimed Mabel Lee, as she
had been reading with an expression
ofextreme disgust on her usually merry
face.
"Why, what has your sex been do
ing?" asked her brother Walter, look
ing up in surprise from his writing
desk.
Isn't this enough to make any
modest girl blush?" said Mabel, taking
up the paper. Such an ADVERTISE
ment. And they are getting quite
common, too-iust listen:
"A young lady not much over TWEEN.
ty, handsome, intelligent and modeE.
ately wealthy, wishes to open core.
spCndence with a young or middle
aged slnqle gentleman. Object, mutual
Improvement and perhaps matri-
monY. Address Annie Laurie"
well, what harm is there in that?"
said Walter. "AyoUng lady not much
over twenty wants husband. No
doubt she has exhausted the means
that are usually employed to obtain
the article, AMI the newspaper is her
last resort. wish her success, and
ehink the time is not far distant when
husbands and kitchen maids will be
advertised for Ia the same column OF
wants"
\ Il don't" said Mabel, "and protest
against woman's advertising her
heart for sale as she would her house"
II think the idea is good one"
said Walter, ''much more honest and
sensible than to plaster her yellow
lace with cosmetics, pile several ounces
OF false hair over her own scanty locks
and entrap some poor fellow into a
proposal, who sooner or later. finds
himself engaged to one OF these self
made' young ladies; and for the life OF
him he cannot tell how it came
about"
f'Few women are obliged to resort
TO such measures, and even that is
not so bad, when the men are silly
enough to fall into such traps, as to
come out in glaring advertisement.
So you see am going to make an ex-
ample Of Annie Laurie, provided you
will help me-"
"What shall do? Answer the ad-
Eertisepaert and follow it up with a
correspondence that will end, as the
writer suggests. in matrimony?"
Not exactly. will answer the ad-
vertisement, pretending to be man,
of course. You see. she is an old maid,
and no doubt her heart is pretty we'll
calloused by previous disappoint-
ments, and not likely to suffer much
from another, and when she sees her
adorer-for l will appoint a place to
meet her, after awhile, and give her lee
ture on woman's rights-and wrongs.
want you to mail the letters and be
with me at the denoucment. Won't it
be fun?"
Walter Lee, fresh from college in
trigues, entered readily into the prac-
tical joke, and Mabel, opening her desk,
wrote, in large, masculine hand, the
following:
Miss ANNIE: | am a widower of
thirty yfive, good looking and indus
trious, with a we'll furnished house.
But ! am very lonely since the lily OF
my heart dropped into the dust. My
salntel Mary Ann, How miss her
sweet presencei And unless some 9th
er fairy form will come to fill the ach-
ing void left in my heart, it's walls will
certainly cave in with the pressure of
grief. | believe in second love. Does
the candle flame 90 out because an
other mas been lighted from 1t? Then
why should the flame of love go out
with the light it has bestowed upon
another?
The first consolation that came to
me in the dark hours OF my bereave-
ment was the thought that the golden
gates of matrimony would again open
at my bidding The fact that l so
dearly loved my angel, Mary Ann, is
proof positive that could love with
equal fervor one equally worthy.
Now. my dear young lady, if you 1e-
ceive another answer to your adver-
tisenent that impresses you more fa-
vorably than mine, you need not an
swer this, and will seek elsewhere for
one to heal my wounded heart. Until
then | am yours, truly,
ROBIN ADAIR.
This letter Walter carried gleefully
to the post Office, and three days later
startled robin Adair" who was
standing before the mirror pulling at
g. mass of golden brown hair, that in
sisted upon taking its own natural
wave instead OF the fashionable
French one its owner was trying to
produce.
My dear sir, here is a letter for
you," said Walter, holding toward
her q diminutive, rose-colored envel.
ope. But hadn't you better take my
hat and cigar case, and try to look
little more masculine?" he added
laughing!y. II fancy if Annie Laurie
were to see you now, she would sell
her matrimonial interest in you for
little or nothing
"Tll make her willing to add a pre-
MUM to the price of nothing" said
Mabel as she tore open the envelope.
The letter was written in small, stiff
looking characters, as though the alt
thor aimed At being neat, but only
succeeded in being prim. 1t ran as
follows:
My DEAR SIR: received no answer
to my advertisement that valued as
do yours. ! am somewhat bashful
and half regretted writing the notice,
fearing the gentlemen would think me
bold and unmaidenly. But on read
ing yourletter my regrets all vanish
ed. The same sentiments which it
breathed have slumbered for years in
my own heart-though they have
never yet been awakened by the pos
session or loss of a companion. l ap-
preciate your gre at love for your wife,
which, as you say, only proves your
capability of exercising that emotion.
am not a bread-and- butter school
girl, but q sensible young lady, with
settled ideas OF life and it's response
bilities. Inever write poetry-never
indulge in rhapsodies over the moon;
but ] understand all the details of
housekeeping-have a good education,
and can adorn both the parlor and
the kitchen.
believe woman's sphere is home.
She is the sun of the solar system of
domestic life, and there her light
should shine.
My tastes are thoroughly domestic.
have tono wanted to be the ivv for